Telephone pay-station.



G. A. LONG. TELEPHONE PAY STATION.

APPLICATION FILED JAN. 24, 1910.

Patented June 11, 1912.

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GEORGE A. LONG, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO THE GRAY TELEPHONE PAY STATION COMPANY, OF I-IAR'IFORD, CONNECTICUT, A CORPORATION OF. CON- NECTICUT.

TELEPHONE PAY-STATION.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented J 11116 11, 1912.

Application filed January 24, 1910. Serial No. 539,676.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. LONG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have inventedcertain new and useful Improvements in Telephone Pay-Stations, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to telephone pay stations. There are several methods of transferring a signal or signals from a subscribers station to central office, the favorite one being the transmission of the signal or signals by sound the latter being transmitted by the telephone transmitter which generally forms a permanent and operative part of the equipment. One apparatus with which I am familiar uses distinctive signals, one character for a nickel, one of a different character for a dime and one of'a still different character for a quarter. The coin or coins generally run down a chute or chutes and in their travel toward and into the coin box they encounter directly these signals or they effect through other means the action of such signal or signals which as will be inferred are of audible type.

The primary purpose of my invention is to provide a pay station which is adapted particularly to transmitters which are highly microphonic in their nature. Telephone companies as is well known are using very delicate microphones in their transmitters, they being so sensitive in fact that-most minute and hardly distinguishable sounds are transmitted thereover. The chute or chutes to which allusion has been made or the equivalent thereof are generally of metal and the coin or coins traveling therealong set up a noise which passes over the line and which frequently confuses the central office operator.

My object therefore is not to put these audible signals in resonant connection with the transmitter but in non-resonant connection therewith and although the sounds of the signals are transmitted to the central ofiice over the telephone transmitter this is not secured by any resonant connection between the signal means and the transmitter for as will hereinafter appear the sounds of the signals are carried into the transmitter through the medium of the air; that is to say the sound waves caused by the action of the signal or signals are carried directly into the transmitter by the air, the metal connections of the instrument having nothing whatsoever to do with such transfer.

There are of course many ways in which I can secure the desired non-resonant connection between an audible signal and a telephone transmitter and in the drawing accompanying and forming part of the present specification I represent in detail one of these which to enable those skilled in the art to practise the invention will be fully set forth in the following description while the novelty of the invention will be included in the claims succeeding said description.

Referring to said drawing, the numeral 2 denotes the case of a telephone pay station and this is usually made of metal; for instance by casting, portions of the case or cabinet being broken away or removed to more clearly show the interior construction of the case and the devices inclosed therein. The casing is surmounted by the neck of the telephone transmitter from which it will be evident that owing to this metal to metal connection there is a resonant connection be tween the case and the transmitter so that any sounds made upon the case 2 will be transferred directly to the transmitter 3 through the medium of such metal.

Within the case 2 are three chutes 4, 5 and 6 intended respectively for the passage of nickels, dimes and quarters and these chutes may as is customary in the art be connected together to present a skeleton-- like frame which is suitably connected to the case 2 interiorly thereof as by screws 7 The chutes therefore are in resonant connection with the telephone transmitter so that the noise of the coins running down said chutes is conducted by a resonant connection between the chutes and the transmitter, to the latter. As hereinbefore indicated there is no resonant connection between the signals and the transmitter.

As a convenient means for securing the signals I may provide a bell as 8 and a gong as 9, the signals being of the usual kind; that is one stroke on the bell 8 denoting that a nickel has been deposited in the proper chute, two strokes on the bell indicating that a dime has been properly inserted, while the sounding of the gong 9 shows that a quarter has been correctly placed as is the custom. But the nature of the audible signals and their number are not matters of vention having already been set forth; that is the non-resonant connection between an signal of any character and a tele-' ;phone* transmitter of suitable type;

While the two signal devices are carried by 't'he case 2 within the same they are so mounted that it is not possible to transfer their sounds to the'transmitter through any of the metal or other mechanism parts of the instrument such sounds being carried solely through the air.

The bell 8 has a central perforation 10 to receive the bolt 11 the head of which is prefe'rably countersunk in the outer surface of the case 2, the shank of said bolt extending through a hole in one side of said case and the nut of the bolt being upon the inner portion or concavity of the bell, the bolt presenting a simple means of connecting the bell to its support which as will be understood is the case 2. Between the bell 8 and the case 2 I interpose a washer 12 of rubber or other suitable sound-deadening or muffiing material, said washer or disk being of course perforated to receive and closely hug the shank of the bolt. Said washer is shown having an inwardly extending boss which extends into and closely fits the central bolt receiving opening 10 of the bell, the inner face of said boss being practically flush with the inner concaved face of the bell. Between the usual washer of said bolt and the bell, I dispose a second rubber washer 13 which also closely hugs the shank of the bolt and which fits against the boss of the companion washer 12, the two washers pre-' senting in effect a spool. There is therefore a complete insulating. connection between the bell and its support. The mounting of the gong9 is precisely similar and therefore needs no specific description except to indicate that the terminal port-ion ofthe gong has an eye 10 to receive the supporting bolt; otherwise the construction is the same and I shall therefore use similar characters for denoting such like parts in the two cases.

As will be understood I may radically depart from the disclosure made by the foregoing description of the annexed drawing the same containing at disclosure of one simple and convenient form of embodiment of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. A telephone pay station comprising a case, a telephone transmitter supported bv the case exteriorly thereof, a signal within said case, and a non-resonant connection between said signal and said telephone transmitter.

2. A telephone pay station comprising a case, a telephone transmitter supported by said case exteriorly thereof, a signal supported within the case, and a non-resonant connection between said signal and its suport.

p In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE A. LONG. Witnesses:

ELEANOR M. JOY, EDGAR S. BLAIR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Gommissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G. r 

